Sunday, August 3, 2014

Hue to Banlung (Cambodia)

For Hue to Banlung route map click -HERE

NOTE (Added June 2015); As I review this blog having had a lot more experience of mountainous terrain I feel somewhat embarrassed to have exaggerated the difficulties of much of this route. It was the 1st time I’d encountered hills on a bicycle & I was pretty out of shape to begin with.
I’m sure experienced cyclists & anyone with experience of hilly terrain would find it a relatively easy cycle ride or at least not as difficult as I’ve made out.


15/06/14 – Hue to A’Luoi - 68km
What a day! The hardest by far & only a 68KM ride from Hue to A’Luoi.
It started well enough when I checked out of Hung Vuong Inn & asked about new brake pads & he directed me across the street to a really old guy doing bike repairs. New back pads & adjustments to the front pads set me back $2. Timely renewal as I was just about to find out.
About 10Km out of Hue on route 49 you hit highway one – take a right & cross the bridge, then the 1st left after the bridge & your back on route 49. I stopped for some food here but the **** way overcharged me - $2.50 for what should have been a $1 or $1.50 meal. Ask the prices before ordering in this area. That said it’s a good idea to fill up here as there aren’t many food options down the road, indeed services were pretty thin on the ground all day – when you can stock up on water!! At one point I turned my nose up at warm water thinking I’ll find a village with cold water soon – big mistake & I spent the last 30KM (until Phu Loc) extremely dehydrated , especially as by this stage I was pushing my bike up the hills & making about 10KM/ hour.
This was, for me, one bloody challenging bike ride. About 20KM outside Hue the road starts to climb & from here it’s either freewheeling down or steep climbing up. The challenging ride reaches an elevation of 600 meters at Ta Ra/ Ta Luong Pass around 5km outside Phu Loc.
NOTE – All distances are hazy today as I was so exhausted I wasn’t making good calculations or judgements.

Thankfully I found a good guesthouse in A’Luoi, $10/ night with A/C (150,000 Dong without A/C), friendly & the young guy speaks some passable English. Some rice soup & chicken & a couple of buns from the rustic bakery + 10 Huda beers & sleep won’t be hard to come by tonight. 


16/06/14 – A’Luoi to Prao – 85Km (approx)
An early start, off at 09.00 which I was glad of at the end of the day.  Quick / flat 6Km to Phu Poc where I stocked up with a liter of water & had a nice fried egg baguette – I should have stoked up more because once again there were few services throughout the day & I actually ended up drinking water from a mountain stream in desperation.
Another ball bursting day, the 1st 20 to 30 KM were OK but then the climbing starts & keeps going & going & going. Between Lien Hiep & Ta Lang there is absolutely nowhere to buy water/ food – anything!! Which is hard when you have not one but 2 pretty steep climbs. The 1st ended with a pass through a tunnel which was a bit eirey with the daylight shining at the far end, blinding & disorientating me. I stuck to the middle of the road & barely discernible cats eyes, praying there wasn’t any dogs or cattle sleeping thereabouts.
Not a place to break down – a motorbike might pass once an hour but otherwise there’s no traffic & your in the company of insect choirs & birdsong. The final 20Km to Prao was thankfully mostly flat or downhill & it was nice to be picking up some Km after all the days climbs
Phong Lan Guesthouse was a decent choice with a very clean, if cramped room for 150,000 Dong ($7). It looks newly opened so may not stay clean & pristine for long. Noisy until 11PM with the neighbors & receptions TV’s blaring but then so is every hotel in this area.
Prao’s been a very friendly wee place & everyone I’ve dealt with has been honest. Pity the dogs don’t like foreigners & make walking the streets a hassle. I did find a really nice street cafe where a plate of rice & chicken soup & then some roll your own spring rolls set me back $3 ($1.50 each). Washed down with 50 cent 333 beers, the perfect end to a hard day.

17/06/14 – Hien (Prao) to Giang (Thank My) – 57 KM (approx)
Yet another extremely challenging day. Thankfully I’d stocked up on water & food in Prao as there was absolutely no services enroute, understandable as there was very little traffic all day. Perhaps a truck or motorbike would pass once every ½ hour.
The 1st 10 to 20 Km out of Prao was a pleasure with most of it at least flat & much of it downhill. I began to daydream that I’d misread the map & that it might be like this all day. I soon came to my senses as I saw the sign for a 420 meter climb. As always this seemed to go on forever & each time I thought the next turn would surmount the summit, I just saw more & more incline. Getting over this the freewheeling downhill was the usual joy/ dread, as one knows payback is due with the next climb & sure enough I hit the next serious incline – around 500 meters I think, but by this time I was too tired to take note & just concentrating on one meter after the next. At some point I did stop for a water break & marvel at the beauty around – forest clad mountains on every side & below a fairly majestic river, but mostly I was just too exhausted to enjoy the natural beauty & just concentrating on making one more KM.
Thanh My (Giang) proved to be another friendly village. The 1st hotel on the right (karaoke sign) had decent rooms for 150,000 dong ($7) but I opted for the newest & fanciest looking place in town.  Forget the name & at $12 a night it was slightly overpriced but I really needed a good nights sleep & not to be awoken at 6am with the owners family yelling at each other. No luck at the end of the day as this family proved to be as noisy as any other with the usual lack of realization that their guests might want to sleep beyond 6am.
A bowl of noodle soup & then I found a wee Bia Hoi shop selling draft beer for 10 cents a glass. 13 beers went down a treat & I might regret it tomorrow but then I’ll worry about that tomorrow!!


18/06/14 – Thanh My /Giang to Kham Duc/ Phuoc Son – 60KM

A quick breakfast of noodle soup & chicken ($1) saw me on the road shortly after 9am. Thankfully I’d misread the map & despite plenty of shaded areas (representing hills/ mountains), the 1st 50Km or so pretty much followed a river. Flat, downhill or modest inclines made for a pleasant days cycling & a much needed break from constant hills.
There were 2 fairly steep climbs – one 7 or 8 KM outside Phuoc Son & another about 4 or 5KM outside but compared to the past 3 days these seemed fairly modest (I’d estimate around 300 to 500 meters respectively).
Traffic, although still sparse was certainly heavier than it’s been of late & there were a few basic services enroute including wonder of wonders – cold water!!
Phuoc Son’s another friendly wee place & I was really happy to splash out $12 on Be Chau Giang Hotel. Really well appointed room, friendly, helpful reception staff & even had some English movie channels. A lot of Easy Riders with their foreign passengers also staying here & it was strange to be in a town where other foreigners also stop.

19/06/14 – Phuoc Son to Dak Glei – 60Km (approx)
Really enjoyed my night in Be Chau Giang Hotel & well worth the $12 splurge. Breakfast consisted of the best baguettes I’ve tasted anywhere. Really fresh bread filled with pork, luncheon meat, fresh herbs & tasty sauces. It’s on the main street on the way to highway 14 & is packed (rightly) of a morning. 2 superb baguettes for 14,000 Dong (60 cents) was the perfect start to the day.
I’d been prepared for a bastard of a day & perhaps that’s why it seemed easier than I’d expected – 20km of fairly gentle ups & downs & then the climbing started & over the next 10 or 15Km it climbed 1,000 meters or so. Then a false descent ie there’s a few Km’s of freewheeling downhill only to find the road again begins to climb back up to 1,000 meters & then you can more or less freewheel down to Dak Glei.
It certainly wasn’t an easy 60Km but I’d expected something tougher & was pleasantly surprised. Basic services were available enroute, including a couple of places near the summit.
Dak Glei – I checked into the 1st hotel on the right (Khach San Tay Ngugen, perhaps) & at $9 with A/c & fridge it’s perfectly OK, although once again the receptionist’s TV is extremely loud. Dak Glei is a pretty boring, nondescript place but the locals are friendly & very honest – no one tried to overcharge me & I did score the most wonderful noodle soup. Pork, chicken, quails eggs, dried prawns, liver & something I didn’t recognize – perhaps crispy tofu with a hearty side of fresh greens for $1.50. It’s pure chance but the food today’s been wonderful & all for a pittance.



20/06/14 – Dak Glei to Dak To – 72KM

Fairly easy days cycling, following a river for much of the day, gentle inclines & nothing too strenuous. Scenery was OK but seemed somewhat boring after the mountains of the past few days. My intent was to stay in Plei Kan which looked to be a bustling wee town with lots of accommodation & food options but I decided  to push on the extra 15 to 20 KM to Dak To.
Dak To turned out to be a lot smaller – more of a village actually but I found a good hotel (Khach San, Phu Gia Hotel), $10 for a nice room with A/c, hot shower, a few cable channels & a pushy, somewhat overbearing owner. Chicken rice & lots of beer put me to sleep only to be awoken with the usual noisy hub bub coming from reception post 6am. Great noodle soup from the restaurant adjacent to the hotel but a bit disconcerting when what felt like the whole village turned up to watch me eating & headed off for what I thought would be an easy 40 Km to Kon Tum. – Not to Be!!!!


21/06/14 – Dak To to Kon Tum – 40Km

As it turned out I was glad I’d done the extra 15 to 20Km to Dak To the previous day as what was supposed to be a nice easy 40Km turned out to be harder than I’d expected. It was roadworks pretty much all the way with loose chippings & rough as hell. In many places the road was down to a single lane & oncoming buses & trucks gave the lone cyclist little room. I was worried what the loose chippings & rough road was doing to my tyres & true enough about 18Km outside Kon tum the back tyre went flat. I’d get air pumped into it & get 2 to 3 Km out of it before going flat again. The final 5Km was pushing the bike into & through town.
Thankfully it was still only around 2.30pm & so I had time to find a hotel & get to a bike shop where a nice young lad fitted a patch. Unfortunately it didn’t last & the next morning I had to use my precious spare tube which thankfully lasted all the way to Banlung where I could buy a replacement.


22/06/14 – Kon Tum to Pleiku – 50Km

Bad start to the day with the back tyre flat as the proverbial pancake. Back to the bike shop where I got my spare tube fitted, thankfully I wasn’t in any rush & an early start wasn’t mandatory. Not much to report – fairly easy 50km. Pleiku is a big sprawling city & when I spotted a bakery, kebab shop & co-op mart all near the main highway, I looked for a room nearby. It was an instantly forgettable hotel & at $12 probably the worst value I’ve had in Vietnam. Still some great cakes, good kebabs & some beers killed the night. Awoken with the usual irritating noise from reception in the morning. 



23/06/14 – Pleiku to Cambodia – 125KM

Instantly forgettable hotel in Pleiku which I didn’t even take the name of. Checked out around 9am & straight to the bakery for some chocolate muffins for the journey & off down highway 14. A wrong right turn early on saw me lose ½ hour of valuable time. The correct right turn is about 12 km outside Pleiku & although not signposted is pretty obvious at the time. So onto highway 19 with the intent of finding a hotel in Duc Co or Moc Den. No evidence of any hotel in Duc Co although it was a fair sized town, I didn’t even notice the “town” of Moc Den. Indeed I was still looking for Moc Den when I arrived at the border shortly after 3pm.
There was a hotel on the Vietnam side & a couple of basic cafes. On the Cambodian side there’s a hotel/ casino complex & a couple of small shops. I decided to try & push on the final 60km to Banlung which proved way too ambitious. Once again just as I was beginning to despair i.e. 18.10 with darkness descending I came to a small town with lots of food stalls, restaurants & joy! Oh joy! – a guesthouse. $7 for a basic room (with cable TV) – A few beers & some food completed another great day in the saddle. The town is about 27km from Banlung at Km ??99 mark.
It’s been a good bike ride – up & down gentle inclines all day with nothing too strenuous & services everywhere enroute. Great to be back where I can communicate with the locals without sign language.

24/06/14 – To Banlung – 27KM 

Not much to report. A nice easy cycle with good road conditions & sparse traffic. Stayed at the Ratanak Phnom Svay Hotel & at $10 (bargained down from $14/ night) , with a/c fridge, flat screen TV, it proved a great place to unwind.


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